Allen West Still in the Fight, Demands Recount

Allen West has yet to concede defeat in his contentious congressional race. Contending potential voter fraud, the following was posted on West's official Facebook page yesterday morning:

Our race is far from decided and there is no rush to declare an outcome. Ensuring a fair and accurate counting off [sic] all ballots is the utmost importance. There are still tens of thousands of absentee ballots to be counted in Palm Beach County and potential provisional ballots across the district. Late last night Congressman West maintained a district wide lead of nearly 2,000 votes until the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections "recounted" thousands of early ballots. Following that "recount" Congressman West trailed by 2,400 votes. In addition, there were numerous other distrurbing irregularities reported at polls across St. Lucie County including the doors to polling places being locked when the polls closed in direct violation of Florida law, thereby preventing the public from witnessing the procedures used to tabulate results. The St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections office clearly ignored proper rules and procedures, and the scene at the Supervisor's office last night could only be described as complete chaos. Given the hostility and demonstrated incompentence of the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections, we believe it is critical that a full hand recount of the ballots take place in St. Lucie County. We will continue to fight to ensure every vote is counted properly and fairly, and accordingly we will pursue all legal means necessary.

According to WTSP, "West filed a motion to have paper ballots counted and to impound voting machines and all paper ballots cast. The motion was filed against the Palm Beach County Election Board."

Murphy declared victory in the race saying, "the votes tabulated in his favor exceed West's by enough to know the outcome of the race. That's far outside the percentage needed for whatever he wants here, so we are confident in this win," WPTV reports.

Newsmax indicated, "Though a winner has not officially been declared, with all precincts reporting, Murphy garnered 160,328 votes to West's 157,872, a difference of 2,456, according to the official results."

And in the latest news, reported here on WeaselZippers, Rep. Allen West appears to have regained his lead by about 300 votes. We'll keep you updated as information surfaces.